Saturday, October 23, 2010

I used some of my e-Reach Big Deal Bucks to grab up a $20 gift certificate to Woody's BBQ for only $10. Unless I find a helluva bargain, going out to dinner is a relatively rare occasion for us.

I'm not sure why the photos look like still from a David Lynch movie, but eerie BBQ is okay by me, as long as it's good BBQ - and Woody's IS.

Mr. FvF had the Pork Sampler, with BBQ pork, Carolina pulled pork, spare ribs and smoked sausage, as well as two sides. We agreed that he could have some of my chicken if I could try a bit of his pulled pork and sausage. Don't think for a second that all of this meat innuendo missed us for a second. It was such a nice family place, I was borderline surprised they didn't ask us to leave over some of the jokes we were making.

Speaking of "family place," I should go ahead and mention now the only bad part of our experience - some of the customers. There was a gal sitting near the door who, no matter how far apart we were, had a dead-locked stare on me. We got quite a few other stares, and frankly, this happens a lot. I'm not gonna front here, eaters - we're an attractive and striking couple. We're also a mixed-race couple, which will draw some glares in the right/wrong crowd. I also tend to be pretty tarted up no matter where we go, and at Woody's, it seemed like if you weren't sporting mom jeans, loafers and some sort of seasonally-themed cardigan, folks probably thought your date was paying for more than just the dinner.

Anyway, the food: Based on my sampling, the pulled pork was great and the sausage was super great. Having married a former Texan, I'm starting to get pretty picky about what I consider top-notch smoked sausage, especially at a BBQ joint. It was straddling the line between sweet and just a little spicy, and had a perfectly cooked skin that popped when you get into it.

I ordered the Taste of Woody's (heh heh), which includes spare ribs, BBQ pork loin, beef smoked turkey, broasted BBQ chicken, and of course, two sides. Oh, and Texas toast. I wanted cole slaw and onion rings as my sides, and they didn't even up-charge me for the rings. Score. I actually wanted to order a different sampler, but they were out of brisket. This was fairly late in the dinner hours for this sort of place, so I wasn't too miffed about it, since they had plenty of variety in their combo platters.

This, clearly, was a heapin' helpin' of food. Very rarely do I not clean my plate at a BBQ joint, but I know once I saw the plate that I was doomed. 3-4 slices of beef, 3 slices of turkey, a chicken leg and thigh, 2 good-size spare ribs, and a few slices of pork loin.

I tried my sides first - top notch. Perfect creamy slaw, the classic kind that goes best with BBQ. I like some of the vinegar-based slaws, but they don't have much place in a BBQ joint. The onion rings were giant and delicious, even though they were crumb-coated and not beer battered (my personal favorite).

I moved on to the big-ass plate of meats and sampled everything without any sauces. I was pleased as punch - absolutely everything tasted just as it should and stood on its own. All of the meat was very tender and juicy, and had incredible smoke flavor (though I'll admit, I had a hard time telling if it was real smoke flavor). It was a tough call, but my favorites were all surprises: the smoked turkey, the chicken and the spare ribs. I'm not normally a huge fan of turkey, dark meat poultry, or spare ribs - but these were all done SO well. The skin/crust on the chicken was good enough to roll around in, the spare ribs were just as meaty as baby backs, and the turkey had the best flavor I've ever tasted on that particular bird.

Service was great, from the front door until after getting our checks. We were greeted pleasantly, seated and got drinks quickly, and were informed right away about any menu changes or specials. Our food came quickly (but not suspiciously fast, as though it'd been getting the lamp treatment), and the server checked in on us often and made sure we hadn't gone thirsty. They forgot one of each of our sides, but that was remedied in no more than 60 seconds, so I can hardly count that against them. We were offered dessert, but of course, couldn't bare the thought. Before we got up to pay, the manager came around and asked how things were, and encouraged us to sign up for their email list for coupons.

This was major bang for our buck, and I was shocked at how good it was. Frankly, I'd never heard a peep about this place until I passed it and looked it up, and most of those reviews weren't very good. I have zero bad things to say about the place, and you know what that means...

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